Outlaws

London: Vintage, 2002. First printing [stated]. Trade paperback. Very good. 313, [1] pages. Signed by author. Kevin Sampson is a British novelist, best known for his novels Awaydays (1998), Powder (1999) and Stars Are Stars (2006). Sampson produced a novel, which was acquired by publisher Dan Franklin at Jonathan Cape. Awaydays was an immediate critical and commercial success on its release in 1998. Sampson's second novel, Powder, reflects some of his experiences of the music business, and adventures in Ibiza, and working for Richard Branson's V2 Music. Outlaws" is Kevin Sampson's finest book to date - a taut, thrilling novel told in a vernacular that sizzles off the page. It's getting harder and harder to eke out a dishonest living in Liverpool. Gun law is out of control. Organized gangs are fighting for supremacy in clubland and the lucrative supply of narcotics. Younger, more ruthless gangs are moving in. Ged, Moby and Ratter, three South End villains, are old-fashioned highwaymen with two decades of meticulously planned jobs behind them. It's Christmas and Ged is planning a job to see the boys through until spring. As usual, he won't give them any details until the morning of the job. Until then, they have to stay off the street and keep out of trouble. But Moby loves to go out - girls love him, guys send drinks over - he could live like this forever. Ged needs to summon all his street savvy and killer instinct just to survive.